Keeping a PSAP fully staffed can be a challenge for any agency. The desire to keep console seats filled paired with the need to fill them with qualified and reliable employees is one of the more difficult tasks 9-1-1 Centers can face. The next phase of this process is retaining the employees you have hired by actively investing in their careers as public safety professionals.

 

This course provides information on how to positively promote a career in the Emergency Communications field. Areas of review include how to clearly define minimum qualifications and how to determine proper staffing levels. Additionally, the course will provide information on how to keep the seats filled once the hiring process is complete. This portion will include training, performance measurement, work environment, and recognition.

 

In the world of emergency services, the term customer service takes on a completely new meaning. This course will begin by identifying the customer base for a 9-1-1 center. This is a broad spectrum that includes those calling 9-1-1 to report an emergency, those that we send out in response to a request for help, and everyone in between. Once our customers have been identified, we will examine the interaction that takes place on each level and the positive or negative impact resulting from the quality of customer service provided.

 

This course stands out from other customer service courses in that it does not teach you merely to be polite and compliant. The course objective is to assist you in learning to provide the appropriate level of customer service in the most professional manner possible.

 

Where do you start when it comes to developing a procedure manual? Should you develop a policy, procedure, or guideline manual? What is the difference? How do you develop a consolidated communications center manual from scratch or from several existing manuals? This one-day “hands-on” course is divided into two sessions designed to answer these questions and provide guidance in this difficult and time-consuming task.

 

The morning session of lecture and exercises examines the difference between policies, procedures, and guidelines while reviewing accreditation, standards, and best practices that drive your particular agency’s needs. Students will learn a seven-step process in procedure manual development and then learn the process for maintaining those manuals. The afternoon session provides for hands-on procedure development and critique. Students are encouraged to bring whatever procedures or procedure manuals on which they are currently working. Workgroups will be set up and time will be spent actually writing procedures and receiving feedback from the instructors, as well as peers. Students will not only take away the knowledge, experience, and feedback from the instructors, but will be given tools and sample manuals to increase their opportunity for success.

 

The transition into a career in emergency services can sometimes seem like you’ve entered an alternate universe. Suddenly the rules have changed. Instead of being encouraged to express yourself in new and creative ways and embracing your individuality, you are required to conform to a structure that is a completely foreign concept. The agency that you’ve joined has likely been well trained to understand the dynamics and traits of your “generation”. However, many of you were never taught what to do in a world that understands why you function the way you do but has not changed to accommodate these traits.

 

This course is designed to offer you an understanding of this new frontier. We will be examining topics ranging from interacting with co-workers to balance in, and maintenance of, your personal life. Some would say these are things all adults should know. While this may have been true in the past, it becomes increasingly evident that the rules have changed. This course is designed to help you as a new telecommunicator not only survive but excel in your career.